Uncle welcomes Spike Robinson and Pearse Redmond to the broadcast. They are both cohosts of the Undue Influence In Popular Culture podcast series. Here, the conversation runs the gamut from the truth about magazine crews to the utility of a good spaghetti mop. Uncle was very pleased to have learned something during this episode.
In this month’s episode, Pearse and Spike take a look at two cult-related episodes from the popular cartoon shows, The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
In The Simpsons episode entitled “The Joy of Sects,” Homer joins the Movementarians, who promise their followers a life of Bliss on Blisstonia – if only they give up all their money and follow their Leader, by toiling in the lima-bean fields. The whole town falls under the group’s spell until Marge gets the family out. Spike and Pearse discuss the inaccurate Hollywood “cult” tropes – and consider the few bits the episode got right – as well as dissecting the extremely erroneous “deprogramming” of the Simpson family.
Moving onto the King of the Hill episode “Fun with Jane and Jane,” Pearse and Spike explore what makes this a much more accurate picture of a high-control group – and which tropes weren’t so accurate. In particular, they discuss the excellent job Hank does in helping Peggy and Luanne leave the group on their own terms, in sharp contrast to the forcible kidnapping and deception Marge employs to “rescue” her family in the Simpsons episode.
Before you tune into this informative and high-spirited discussion, we encourage you to watch the shows so you have them fresh in your mind. Also mentioned in this podcast is a former episode with Christian Szurko, available here.
In this month’s episode, Pearse is joined by Spike Robinson to launch a new series, “Undue Influence in Pop Culture,” where they plan to examine various popular movies, television series and books through the lens of undue influence and coercive control. This month, they compare and contrast two episodes of classic Star Trek: “Return of the Archons” and “A Taste of Armageddon.”
“Return of the Archons” is a classic example of how Hollywood portrays thought control or “brainwashing”, with a population of blissed-out automatons, only breaking out of tranquility for their purge-like Festival – a society completely under the control of a supercomputer, which was programmed six thousand years ago by the “savior” of their race, Landru. The people are glassy eyed and speaking in a strange, stylized sort of language, with no autonomy or independent thought.
However, it is in “Taste of Armageddon” that the real face of cultural coercion can be seen – for two planets fighting a mechanized, computer-calculated war, their cultures have become so tightly controlled that otherwise sane, rational people – people who talk normally and even persuasively about their “system” are so under the influence of their leaders that they will “willingly” step into vaporization booths, rather than face the indoctrinated phobia of what might happen to their world if they do not comply.
Using these two episodes as a starting point, Spike and Pearse discuss what mind control is, what it isn’t, and how our popular culture informs our opinions on this highly complex subject.
This month, Christian Szurko of the Dialog Centre returns, joining Jon and Pearse in this informative, witty, and often hilarious discussion. They start with the idea of how communication is used – or, rather, misused – as a means of control in recruitment and indoctrination, and the impact this has in the recovery of those leaving authoritarian relationships. They move on to explore how the misuse of communication plays out in groups such as cults and gangs, as well as in everyday relationships. They also take a hard look at how our education system can act as the foundation for this type of control, and discuss how redefining words and phrases has long been used by authoritarian groups to exert control.
This month Pearse Redmond and Yuval Laor explore the issue of conspiracy theories and their power to manipulate individuals and groups. They start off by discussing the popular Qanon theory, breaking down how adherents to this and many other conspiracy theories operate within the structure of a secret society, and the dangers of being in a secret society. Yuval also discusses the concept of “argument from strangeness” and how this factors into both conspiracy theories and miracles. Later they touch on why authoritarian groups such as cults often employ conspiracy theories in order to control and manipulate their members. Finally, they close out the show by discussing the danger of dismissing all conspiracy theories, and the human need to question authority, using the fabricated Nayirah Testimony and the Iraqi WMD’s as examples to support their arguments.
In this episode, Jon Atack and Pearse Redmond speak with their good friend Yuval Laor. They start by discussing a recent article by professor Rebecca Moore entitled The Brainwashing Myth, dissecting the strange assertions Moore makes, primarily that brainwashing does not exist. They also talk about her three “scientific, neutral, and precise” terms which can replace brainwashing.
Jon and Yuval talk about the historical roots of the term from ancient China to the through reform camps of the 50’s. They also address our problems with the flawed term “new religious movement”, discussing Moore’s history defending Jim Jones and The Peoples’ Temple. They talk about her sisters, Carolyn Layton and Annie Moore, both high-ranking members who organized and oversaw the murder of over 900 people. They look at how this has colored Rebecca Moore’s books defending Jones and the legacy of the Peoples Temple. They close out by talking about the problem of arguing over semantics within the counter-cult world.
What do you think about this podcast? Do you agree? Do you have a story about brainwashing – or the misuse of the term – that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you!
Christian Szurko of the Dialog Centre joins us once again for a discussion about radicalization. We start off by talking about Jon’s recent trips to Lisbon and Rotterdam for a series of conferences hosted by the Radicalization Awareness Network. We discuss the growing problems of radicalization, looking at groups such as the far-right and gangs. We touch on the public’s reluctance to engage with radicalized individuals, and the false concept that they are “too far gone.” We round out the conversation by discussing how conspiracy theories play a central role in the radicalization process.
In this episode, Christian Szurko of the DialogCentre UK joins hosts Pearse Redmond and Jon Atack to discuss his work counseling people who have become involved in extremist or authoritarian groups. Christian explains how he first got involved in this field of work, and they talk about how this process works from the initial first meeting all the way through to recovery. Christian and Jon both discuss the dangers of “deprograming” and the positive alternatives that are out there. They also touch on the psychological effects that leaving an extremist or authoritarian group can have on an individual.
Join hosts Pearse Redmond and Jon Atack as they discuss the concept of awe and its manipulative power with Yuval Laor. They talk about the psychological effect awe can have on an individual, and explore how this can be exploited by cult groups and toxic individuals in order to gain control. Yuval and Jon also discuss how all of us can be susceptible to the manipulation of our natural sense of awe, and the importance of cultivating healthy awe experiences in our life.
This week I am joined by Yuval Laor of the Open Minds Foundation, and one of my co-hosts for Open Minds On Air. We discuss the neoconservative movement, the exploitation of trauma, and Israel. Yuval and I start off the conversation with the breaking news that Donald Trump has decided to pull the US out the Iran Nuclear Deal. We talk about what this means for America and the prospect of war with Iran. Yuval gives us his perspective of this as an Israeli-American, and how the public within Israel is reacting to the news. Yuval and I then shift into the neocons who are obviously happy with Trump’s latest pronouncement. We look at their belief system and the psychology of the movement by using Israel as a template. Yuval talks about the continual use and exploitation of the holocaust and the trauma of it with in Israel. He discusses how this has manipulated Israeli society on a psychological level to the point where they view the Holocaust as constantly being right around the corner. We talk about the way that the Israeli state continually traumatizes its youth with regards to the Holocaust. Yuval and I then break down how this is the same method by which the neocons have sought to manipulate people here in the United States.
Later Yuval and I talk about the power of awe and fervor. Again using Israel as an example we talk about “Jerusalem Syndrome” and how it works on people who are not even religious. Yuval talks about John Kerry’s awe moment at Masada as well. We then shift into high fervor people and their inability to view the world outside of a good vs. evil black and white mentality. Yuval explains how the neocons have psychologically fallen into this mindset, and the ways in which it has effected their views on foreign policy. We also address whether neoconservationism is a cult group or a secret society. We also touch on Trump’s psychology and why he is so susceptible to manipulation, particularly by the neocons. Yuval also discusses the concept of a thought-terminating cliché. Yuval then closes out the episode with a very appropriate joke.
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